chenhg5/cc-connect · error

create systemd dir: %w

Error message

create systemd dir: %w

What it means

Install() wraps the os.MkdirAll failure for the systemd unit directory (e.g. /etc/systemd/system or ~/.config/systemd/user) in this error via fmt.Errorf with %w. It means the directory holding the cc-connect .service unit could not be created, typically due to filesystem permissions or a read-only root. It aborts the whole install before any unit file is written.

Source

Thrown at daemon/systemd.go:55

	if err := checkSystemdRunning(false); err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}
	return &systemdManager{system: false}, nil
}

func (m *systemdManager) Platform() string {
	if m.system {
		return "systemd (system)"
	}
	return "systemd (user)"
}

func (m *systemdManager) Install(cfg Config) error {
	unitPath := m.unitPath()

	if err := os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(unitPath), 0755); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("create systemd dir: %w", err)
	}
	if err := os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(cfg.LogFile), 0755); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("create log dir: %w", err)
	}

	unit := m.buildUnit(cfg)
	// 0600: unit file may contain captured secret values (config.toml ${ENV}
	// placeholders and any EnvDiscoverer extension output). For system-level
	// units (/etc/systemd/system/) the file is owned by root and remains
	// readable by root only; for user-level units under
	// ~/.config/systemd/user it remains owner-only. WriteFile only applies
	// perm on create, so Chmod afterwards is required to harden reinstalls
	// of pre-existing 0644 units from earlier cc-connect versions.
	if err := os.WriteFile(unitPath, []byte(unit), 0600); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("write unit file: %w", err)
	}
	if err := os.Chmod(unitPath, 0600); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("chmod unit file: %w", err)

View on GitHub (pinned to 4000b2338a)

Solutions

1. Run the install command with root privileges (sudo) for a system-level unit.
2. Check the target path: if a file exists where the directory should be, remove/rename it.
3. Verify the filesystem is writable (not mounted ro): `mount | grep /etc`.
4. Use a user-level manager (systemd --user) which writes under ~/.config and needs no root.

Example fix

// before
err := mgr.Install(cfg) // fails: create systemd dir: permission denied
// after
if os.Geteuid() != 0 && strings.HasPrefix(mgr.unitPath(), "/etc/") {
    return fmt.Errorf("system install requires root; use --user")
}
err := mgr.Install(cfg)

unitDir := filepath.Dir(mgr.unitPath())
if fi, err := os.Stat(unitDir); err == nil && !fi.IsDir() {
    return fmt.Errorf("%s exists and is not a directory", unitDir)
}
if err := os.MkdirAll(unitDir, 0755); err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("cannot create unit dir: %w", err)
}

func canWriteDir(path string) bool {
    fi, err := os.Stat(path)
    return err == nil && fi.IsDir() && fi.Mode().Perm()&0200 != 0
}

if err := mgr.Install(cfg); err != nil {
    var pe *fs.PathError
    if errors.As(err, &pe) && errors.Is(pe.Err, fs.ErrPermission) {
        return fmt.Errorf("need root: rerun with sudo (%w)", err)
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling Install when the parent of unitPath cannot be created: insufficient privileges for /etc/systemd/system, a read-only filesystem, or a path component that is a regular file instead of a directory.

Common situations: Running `cc-connect install` as a non-root user for a system-level install; running inside a container with a read-only /etc; a stale file (not directory) sitting at ~/.config/systemd.

Understand the failure class

Background: mkdir permission denied (EACCES): failed to create directory errors explained — this error's family across 32 libraries.

Related errors

• write unit file: %w
• remove unit: %w
• read existing Agy hooks %s: %w
• kimi: read sessions dir: %w
• create run dir: %w

AI-assisted analysis of chenhg5/cc-connect@4000b2338a (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f97ec3a7427350b6. Report an issue: GitHub.